An excellent handbook on the physics of interplanetary dust, a topic of interest not only to astronomers and space scientists but also to engineers. The following topics are covered in the book: historical perspectives; cometary dust; near-Earth environment; meteoroids and meteors; properties of interplanetary dust, information from collected samples; in situ measurements of cosmic dust; numerical modeling of the Zodiacal Cloud structure; synthesis of observations; instrumentation; physical processes; optical properties of interplanetary dust; orbital evolution of interplanetary dust; circumplanetary dust, observations and simple physics; interstellar dust and circumstellar dust disks. No doubt, the text will be regarded as the standard reference on interplanetary dust for many years to come.

The study of dust in the universe is an exciting area in current astronomy. Dust formed during an earlier epoch could be different from that formed at a later time, but the nature and composition of dust is not presently understood in its entirety. The comprehensive study presented in this book provides a much needed critical analysis of different types of dust in the universe. The information derived from presolar grains from comets, meteorites and interplanetary dust particles as well as the relevant laboratory studies are discussed. This should help in our goal of understanding the evolution of dust with cosmic time.

IAU Symposium Number 52 on Interstellar Dust and Related Topics was held at Albany, N.Y., on the campus of the State University of New York at Albany from May 29 to June 2, 1972. The members of the Organizing Committee were: Dr A. D. Code, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis., U.S.A. Dr B. D. Donn, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., U.S.A. Dr A. Elvius, Stockholm Observatory, Saltsjobaden, Sweden. Dr T. Gehrels, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz., U.S.A. Dr J. M. Greenberg (Chairman), State University of New York at Albany, Albany, N.Y., U.S.A. Dr H. C. van de Hulst, Sterrewacht, Leiden, Holland. Dr S. B. Pikel'ner, Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Moscow, U.S.S.R. Dr E. E. Salpeter, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., U.S.A. Dr B. E. Turner, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Charlottesville, Va., U.S.A. The suggestion was first made in 1971 that a symposium on interstellar grains would be timely. The response to the first preliminary announcement, which was sent out on November 29, 1971, was well beyond our expectations. The meeting was locally sponsored by the State University and by Dudley Observatory. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation con tributed along with the IAU. There were 158 participants of whom 49 were from 15 countries outside the United States. A total of 92 papers were presented.

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